Turkey has established mechanisms to support exporters to comply with CBAM

Turkey has created various support mechanisms to facilitate compliance with CBAM requirements by the country’s exporters. This was announced by Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat during the Climate Summit (İKAZ), Erzurum Gazetesi reports.

In particular, in this context, the Responsible support program was introduced, which consists of three main stages.

As part of this advisory program, Turkey helps its exporters reduce their carbon footprint, digitize processes, and improve energy efficiency.

“The Ministry of Commerce provides grants of up to 10 million Turkish liras, which covers 50% of the training and advisory services they receive for five years. This will make it much easier for them to comply with the carbon reporting and environmental standards required by the EU,” Bolat added.

The minister emphasized the critical importance of CBAM regulation for Turkey and recalled that 41% of its total exports go to the 27 EU member states. According to him, this forces the country to introduce new cost and reporting requirements for overseas shipments in carbon-intensive sectors.

The minister also noted that the current EU policy is aimed not only at protecting the environment, but also at changing the rules of global trade.

“We believe and constantly voice to EU officials that these rules should not turn into unilateral and discriminatory trade measures. Measures to adjust carbon boundaries implemented by the bloc should be developed in full compliance with global trade rules and not be discriminatory to protect national production,” he emphasized.

According to Bolat, the ministry is working closely with relevant stakeholders to ensure that this will not have a negative impact on Turkey’s trade sectors.

According to the Minister, developed countries should provide equitable financing, technology transfer and technical assistance mechanisms to developing countries, recognizing their historical responsibility for carbon emissions.

As GMK Center reported earlier, the European CBAM is being opposed by a number of economies. The cross-border carbon adjustment mechanism pits the development of the industrial potential of poorer countries against the EU’s decarbonization goals.